Richo, the man who is Richmond / Young guns' heat on Richo

[one-eyed]

Richo, the man who is Richmond
06 May 2007   Sunday Herald Sun
Jesper Fjeldstad

Heart and soul: Richmond veteran Matthew Richardson still believes he has a few years left to offer at Tigerland.

YOU are the club's leading goalkicker in 11 of the past 13 years. Your father played at the club and you came via a father-son selection from Tasmania.

You are the face of the club, and the perception. You are an outstanding, but combustible key forward who has borne the wrath, expectation and hopes of Tiger fans since you turned up in 1993.

In your time, you have seen false dawns and turbulent times, five coaches and countless teammates who played fine careers, but never really got close to a flag. You worry the same fate will befall you.

You are Matthew Richardson, the 19th leading goal-kicker of all time and, like Richmond, you carry eternal hope: that the season's not gone, that there is still time for a flag before retirement and that coach Terry Wallace can be the man who finally brings success for the starved inner-Melbourne club.

Most of players he spent the past decade with are gone, including Wayne Campbell, Matthew Knights, Nick Daffy and Tony Free.

But the passion is still there for Richardson. He is 32, but still young and, even if this season passes, he will carry on Richmond's dream of premiership glory for the first time since 1980 - 11 coaches ago.

In the next three weeks, another season could be laid to rest - the Tigers are 0-5 and face Geelong today before consecutive weeks in Adelaide. The City of Churches might bury Richmond's finals tilt this year.

But even if another one ebbs away, there will be optimism with Richardson and Wallace, both irrepressible types. That is the thing that has been lost over the years of reading and watching Richmond, how the spirit has remained despite humdrum performances, in-fighting and sackings, saving their skins, while the rest of the football world was shaking their heads.

The constant has been Richardson. He will still have the odd brain freeze, but Wallace reckons they are few and far between these days.

His past few years have been underscored by a stronger sense of purpose. He knows time is running out.

"People say time goes quicker as you get older and I think that's the case," Richardson said.

"I'm enjoying playing as much as I've ever had. The training gets harder and you probably lose a bit of the enjoyment, but once you start playing it's all worth it and I'm as keen as ever.

"You look back and you realise what you haven't achieved, and then you look forward and realise you haven't got many years left.

"So you get a bit more, I guess, desperate and hungry for that to happen.

"There's no doubt that's the case. I haven't had the success in finals football, but I still think I've got a few years left yet."

Speak to Richardson and his calm belies the stereotype, the flaky key position forward opposition supporters love to bag.

With maturity, a sense of calm has crept into his game and a thicker hide to protect him from jibes about his attitude and kicking technique.

He has kicked bags of goals, but they continue to knock him. It's just that it doesn't effect him almost as much as it once did.

"I wouldn't say a love-hate relationship," he said of the way Tigers supporters treat him.

"I think the majority of club supporters have been there through the good times and bad.

"There's always some people who go the other way, but, as a whole, I think the Richmond people are a reasonable support group.

"I think it's a non-issue, if you have a closer look at it. I think once you create a perception in football it's hard to get rid of and that's what I've found over the years."

There is also the other side to Richardson, unknown to most of the public - his tireless work for charity and the club.

"I've been surprised at just how much he does, community-wise, for the football club," Wallace said.

"When you look at us as a footy club, him and Joel (Bowden), with their fathers both playing for the club, have a heart and soul for the club . . . that's why I love the father-son rule."

"Even if you're a supporter, the club can't be as close to your heart as it is to him. He's Richmond."

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,21676234%255E19742,00.html

[one-eyed]

Young guns' heat on Richardson
06 May 2007   Sunday Herald Sun
David Reed

MATTHEW Richardson's days as a permanent key forward look numbered, with Richmond deciding to go for young bloods against Geelong today.
 
Richardson's stellar 239-game career has produced 701 goals, but the mood at Punt Road is that the time has come to look beyond its regular matchwinner.

Richo was named in a forward pocket and is likely to run on the ball while Cleve Hughes, 20, and Jay Schulz, 22, have been given the key posts - as they were against West Coast last Saturday.

Both youngsters emerged with credit against the premiers - Hughes booted three goals in his fourth AFL game while Schulz was strong on the lead although poor kicking at goal (0.4 from set shots) spoiled his day.

Richardson was also effective as a roaming follower, where he was able to use his stamina to advantage.

Also putting pressure on is Jack Riewoldt, 18, a cousin of St Kilda star Nick.

Riewoldt, a 192cm key position player, has been impressive at Coburg.

The Tigers named a youthful goal-to-goal line for today's clash with Geelong - with Brett Deledio in the centre, Graham Polak at centre half-back and Luke McGuane at full back.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,21676886%255E19771,00.html

[one-eyed]

Spit and polish
12 May 2007   Herald-Sun
Trevor Grant

IT COULD be Fraser Gehrig limbering up before the opening bounce like Anthony Mundine on fight night. Or maybe Brendan Fevola lapsing into a Benny Hill moment and turning his back on the play, Matthew Richardson sulking and pouting like Paris Hilton or Barry Hall giving us his Hulk Hogan impersonation.

At some stage during a game these giants of the goalsquare will have exceeded the bounds of acceptable behaviour and caused anything from a riot on the field, apoplexy in the coaching box, adjectival diarrhoea in the commentary booth, or, perhaps, just a few laughs all round.

They might be unceremoniously hauled from the field, admonished by the boss, reported by umpires, suspended by the tribunal, psychoanalysed by the media and defended by their mums. And through it all, they will have been painted as wild-eyed mavericks whose lack of emotional control threatens the fabric of the team.

Of course, there is an argument to say we are all guilty of a massive over-reaction and that they are simply victims of an era of rigid intolerance.
.......
Obviously there is a need in every team sport for a certain amount of individual discipline, but, according to Carlton coach Denis Pagan, the unrelenting focus on these moments of random madness from the likes of Fevola, Richardson, Gehrig and Hall skews the true picture and unjustly renders their very worthy contributions as an afterthought.

Richardson might have missed a sitter or thrown a wobbly but soon enough you'll find him running himself into the ground to get another crack at it.
.......
If there is one current commentator qualified to understand the often harsh judgments made on these players, it's former Richmond and Collingwood full-forward Brian Taylor, who garnered a reputation for indiscipline that, in the end, overwhelmed his achievement as a brilliant goalkicker who snared 100 in a season (1986) and 527 in a 140-game career from 1980-1990.

"I never felt I was out of control with that stuff. I felt it was a stimulant to help me perform," said Taylor, who calls games on Triple M radio these days. "I needed to be angry and high on emotion to play. And because I always felt it was part of what made me tick, I couldn't understand sometimes why the coach would take me to task. Sometimes I would agree but on the whole I felt they didn't understand."

Taylor believes the likes of Fevola, Richardson, Hall and Gehrig, suffer from the same lack of consideration.

"None of us understand what is going on inside their heads. It may be the same as me. It may be a motivating factor," he said.

"I think all that colour and movement adds to the package.

"Richo brings so much emotion to the game that it's really hard to hold it in all the time. He expresses his emotions outwardly.
........
After 15 seasons at Richmond, Richardson appears resigned to the fact that the football world will always see the negative ahead of the positive with him. "I think once you create a perception in football it's hard to get rid of," he said.

He's absolutely right. But, in the end, for Hall, Gehrig, Fevola and Richardson and their teams, it's the reality that counts. And the reality is that AFL football would be poorer without them.

Full article at: http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,21714185%255E19771,00.html